diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index edcf9fdd3cc..34a89efc32a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ Note that this project **does not** adhere to [Semantic Versioning](https://semv
 - We fixed an issue where month values 21–24 (ISO 8601-2019 season codes) in Biblatex date fields were not recognized as seasons during parsing. [#12437](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12437)
 - We fixed an issue where migration of "Search groups" would fail with an exception when the search query is invalid. [#12555](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12555)
 - We fixed an issue where not all linked files from BibDesk in the field `bdsk-file-...` were parsed. [#12555](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12555)
+- We fixed an issue where it was possible to select "Search for unlinked local files" for a new (unsaved) library. [#12558](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12558)
 - We fixed an issue where user-defined keyword separator does not apply to Merge Groups. [#12535](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12535)
 - We fixed an issue where duplicate items cannot be removed correctly when merging groups or keywords. [#12585](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12585)
 - We fixed an issue where JabRef displayed an incorrect deletion notification when canceling entry deletion [#12645](https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/12645)
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesAction.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesAction.java
index 7c5cb7bf644..e31c5fd1a2f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesAction.java
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 import org.jabref.gui.StateManager;
 import org.jabref.gui.actions.SimpleCommand;
 
-import static org.jabref.gui.actions.ActionHelper.needsDatabase;
+import static org.jabref.gui.actions.ActionHelper.needsSavedLocalDatabase;
 
 public class FindUnlinkedFilesAction extends SimpleCommand {
 
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ public FindUnlinkedFilesAction(DialogService dialogService, StateManager stateMa
         this.dialogService = dialogService;
         this.stateManager = stateManager;
 
-        this.executable.bind(needsDatabase(this.stateManager));
+        this.executable.bind(needsSavedLocalDatabase(this.stateManager));
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesActionTest.java b/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesActionTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7ee1562bf8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/jabref/gui/externalfiles/FindUnlinkedFilesActionTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package org.jabref.gui.externalfiles;
+
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.Optional;
+
+import org.jabref.gui.DialogService;
+import org.jabref.gui.StateManager;
+import org.jabref.logic.shared.DatabaseLocation;
+import org.jabref.model.database.BibDatabaseContext;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.MockitoAnnotations;
+
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
+
+class FindUnlinkedFilesActionTest {
+
+    @Mock
+    private DialogService dialogService;
+
+    @Mock
+    private BibDatabaseContext databaseContext;
+
+    private StateManager stateManager;
+    private FindUnlinkedFilesAction action;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    void setUp() {
+        MockitoAnnotations.openMocks(this);
+        stateManager = new StateManager();
+        action = new FindUnlinkedFilesAction(dialogService, stateManager);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void isEnabledWhenNewDatabaseIsSavedTest() {
+        when(databaseContext.getDatabasePath()).thenReturn(Optional.of(Path.of("test.bib")));
+        when(databaseContext.getLocation()).thenReturn(DatabaseLocation.LOCAL);
+
+        stateManager.activeDatabaseProperty().setValue(Optional.of(databaseContext));
+
+        assertTrue(action.executableProperty().get());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void isDisabledWhenNewDatabasePathIsEmptyTest() {
+        when(databaseContext.getDatabasePath()).thenReturn(Optional.empty());
+        when(databaseContext.getLocation()).thenReturn(DatabaseLocation.LOCAL);
+
+        stateManager.activeDatabaseProperty().setValue(Optional.of(databaseContext));
+
+        assertFalse(action.executableProperty().get());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    void isDisabledWhenNewDatabaseIsNotLocalTest() {
+        when(databaseContext.getDatabasePath()).thenReturn(Optional.of(Path.of("test.bib")));
+        when(databaseContext.getLocation()).thenReturn(DatabaseLocation.SHARED);
+
+        stateManager.activeDatabaseProperty().setValue(Optional.of(databaseContext));
+
+        assertFalse(action.executableProperty().get());
+    }
+}